Singapore Maths & Operation Maths

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Singapore Maths & Operation Maths

What is Singapore Maths and what has it got to do with Operation Maths?

When comparing international mathematical achievement at primary and secondary level, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), is generally regarded as one the best comparison tools. And even a quick review of the score tables of these studies will highlight the consistent appearance of one particular country at the top – Singapore.

Singapore’s consistently high achievement has drawn attention and interest from educationalists internationally, keen to learn from the Singapore successes. And this has led to the buzz word “Singapore Maths” been given to both the maths curriculum and the way maths is taught in this country.

For the most part, the maths content in Singapore Maths is the same as the maths content in most countries, including Ireland. However, Singapore Maths is more than just content; primarily, it is a philosophy for mathematics instruction, in other words it’s more about how to teach maths than it is about what to teach.

In a similar way, the Operation Maths programme is significantly different to other maths programmes in the way it emphasises the importance of children understanding maths, and not just doing maths. Indeed, Operation Maths has been heavily influenced by some of the key elements of the Singapore Maths philosophy and many of these feature strongly in its own approaches.

Let’s look at some of the common elements of Singapore Maths and Operation Maths

Singapore Maths

Operation Maths

Demonstrates a concrete, pictorial, abstract (CPA) sequence of instruction based on the work of Jerome Bruner in the 1960’s

Also based on a CPA approach, where the TRBs and pupils’ books illustrate how concrete materials can be used to model the concepts and, in particular, the more complex and abstract elements of primary maths in the middle and senior classes

Places huge emphasis on the base-ten system and how a solid understanding of place value will greatly enhance a child’s understanding of operations, decimals, measurement etc

Also recognises the huge importance of base-ten understanding and has been specifically designed to allow more time for exploration of the place value concepts so as to give the children the best possible head-start on all the related concepts

Promotes the development of specific problem solving strategies (including bar models) in a structured and developmental way

Also enables the children to explore and use specific strategies throughout the classes and is the only programme currently that enables the children to understand and use bar modelling as a specific problem solving strategy

Encourages the development of mental computation skills via the use of various strategies to decompose and combine numbers to arrive at efficient and accurate answers. Emphasises the importance of flexibility over procedures

Emphasises the importance of visual structures to illustrate concepts eg ten frames, number bonds, part-whole models and branching all help to illustrate the relationships between numbers and to help show how the numbers can be manipulated to solve calculations

All of these strategies are also included in Operation Maths and in particular ten frames are included free with all the junior end books

Believes that everyone can experience success in maths so long as they are taught it correctly and that they also put in the effort to learn and persevere.

Similarly, Operation Maths uses key learning statements (i.e. “I am learning to …”) which makes learning and success more attainable for all children

The pupils’ books present the content very visually and encourage the exploration and manipulation of concrete materials by the children

Similarly the Operation Maths books have been designed to be very visual, and incorporate a whole, host of visual strategies, rather than relying on just digits, symbols and calculations, which can be too abstract, except for those more mathematically-able.

So there you have it…Operation Maths is like a taste of Singapore with a definite Irish twist!

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